It is in general agreement in the art of musical education that correct mouth-positioning of a student upon the mouth-piece of a reed-type wind musical instrument such as the clarinet is very critical, especially for the novice student. A very small jaw movement of the student results in the repositioning of the lower jaw; often an incorrect jaw position precipitates an incorrect mouth-position upon the reed-type mouth piece, adversely affecting the student's playing capability. The student to instrument play learning relationship is considerably eased and teaching time is importantly reduced by the use of the present invention comprising a corrective jaw position indicator.
Oral instructional efforts customarily undertaken to influence the student to continue the proper mouth-position and lower jaw orientation are less effective than desired, and are limited to practice sessions with the instructor providing the time to individually instruct each student.
Deficiencies in the tonal production alone are not enough to warn the student that mouth-position to mouth-piece relationship is the probable cause for the playing difficulty. It has been found through multiple teaching experiences that the student has a natural tendency while learning to play a reed-type wind instrument to position his lower jaw rearwardly, and thus, to misalign the lower and upper teeth so as to define an exaggerated overbite in order to adjust for the bulk of the mouth-piece. Most often even a so-called natural or normal bite relationship results in an inset (overbite) lower teeth alignment with reference to the upper teeth. Accordingly, it is even more difficult for a novice student to remember to correctly compensate for the bulky mouth-piece while learning to cope with other playing variables.
The proper mouth-position of the student upon the mouth-piece of the reed-type instrument requires the lower jaw to be more forwardly aligned or protruded to result in the lower teeth of the student being brought into general alignment with reference to the upper teeth. Thus, the attainment and maintenance of the correct playing mouth-position often results in a so-called unnatural, forced or asserted lower jaw position. The added concentration of playing the instrument with many unfamiliar variables to be controlled at once characteristically results in the beginner student's unconscious shifting of the lower jaw in return to the so-called normal or relaxed jaw position. Hence, the student may not at once be aware or conscious of the departure of the lower jaw from the correct playing mouth-position.
It has been found that the presently disclosed corrective jaw position indicator serves to quickly teach and implement the beginner student's knowledge and awareness of the correct playing mouth-position and jaw orientation, significantly reducing the instructional time required to impart to the student a proper mouth-orientation upon the mouth-piece of reed-type musical instruments. The present indicator is also advantageously used in remedial student instruction. The present jaw position indicator includes a battery-powered alarm unit and normally closed relay means effective to signal correct jaw position upon make contact of normally open contact assembly switch means. The contact assembly switch means is a closeable make contact switch which is caused to break the make or closed point contact thereof upon the contraction of the expandible base strap supporting the contact assembly, which contraction may be caused by the student's unconscious relaxation of the lower jaw. The purposeful protrusion of the lower jaw to obtain corrected teeth alignment and mouth position brings the single point contact to the closed position. Hence, the contact assembly switch means is biased to make contact upon forward protrusion of the lower jaw and to break point contact upon contraction of the lower jaw as may be caused by the student's relaxation of the lower jaw to its more so-called natural alignment, or when the student should incorrectly overbite the mouth-piece. Signalling is selectively provided by differential visual alarms and an optional audible alarm could be provided, as more fully disclosed hereinafter.